KCA accounts reveal how bad things were

The long overdue accounts for the old Kenyan Cricket Association, covering the year to the end of 2004, have now been submitted to the ICC and club officials, and they show the level of chaos inside the board in the months leading up to the elections which saw the removal of the old regime.

The most revealing part of the accounts are the notes by Shah Patel & Company, the Nairobi-based auditors.

The five-page document reveals that many transactions cannot be verified because of missing documentation. "A number of transactions ... were not adequately supported by invoices," the report stated. "As a result of our queries we subsequently received a file containing random invoices not filed in any particular order. We have noted a very large amount of expenses accrued at the year end. Since most of these are not adequately supported, we are unable to comment on the correctness of these expenses."

Critics of the old regime, who were unhappy with the relationship between the KCA and Media Plus, the rights company owned by Sharad Ghai, would have been interested to note that there were "a number of cash payments to Media Plus Sports Ltd for which no supporting documents were available. The payment voucher, which must be authorised by two signatories as per the Association's protocol has only one signature, that of Mr Ghai."

The report continued: "Media Plus Sports Ltd has been paid US$28,000 as ground expense. This payment is besides the contracted public expenses paid to Media Plus Sports Ltd. There is no authorisation on the payment voucher except a signature by Mr Ghai. The explanation we received was that the Association had to pay Nairobi Gymkhana and Mr Ghai made the payment hence these payments were a reimbursement to Mr Ghai. No documentary evidence was available to support this."

The auditors also stated that they failed "to understand how no supporting documents are available for large amounts spent". Some items of more than US$20,000 have no documentation at all.

While there is no suggestion of anything untoward, what the audit does highlight is the lack of financial control exercised by the old KCA.

The new board, which assumed control in May 2005, inherited debts in excess of US$500,000 with no meaningful assets.